The Last Man Standing
by MoonRaven95
Summary: They were the three musketeers but now only one of them is left. Miyoshi Takuya reminces his two friends from police academy, Date Wataru and Furuya Rei and their oath they swore when graduating. "For the future. For the family. For the friends... For the safety and security of our Japan."


**A/N: I got this idea and I just couldn't let go of it... Tooru/Rei is one of my favourite characters and I absolutely love Takuya from my OCs.**

**This is a bit angsty at places... But once you read this, you understand why.**

**And I probably won't even need to tell you that this takes place in my Dream or Not verse. No need to read it but it can help. Maybe... Since I haven't properly introduced Takuya there yet and Tooru hasn't made a proper appearance yet either. I don't know if I ever will dig more deeply into Takuya so this fic-y covers it a bit. I might write more of this later. Especially if you review. ;)**

* * *

**The last man standing**

Detective Miyoshi Takuya gazed into the glass of alcohol in front of him. The bar he was sitting in was dimly lit and had its own unique atmosphere. It was one of those places no one else from the department came. Takuya hadn't come either for a long time but today... Today was an exception.

The case today had been tough. Tougher than usual actually. They had solved it eventually but the criminal had almost managed to escape. If it hadn't been for Satou, they would probably be still chasing the guy.

While the rest of the group had gone to their regular place to celebrate, Takuya had come here, to this old place he used to come with his two friends. When the three of them were still in the Academy.

They had been the inseparable trio, solving the problems together and working as a brilliant team. The Three Musketeers they'd been called back then.

Date Wataru had been the muscles. The tough big brother to them who could take down even the biggest opponents.

Furuya Rei was the brains. No problem was too hard for him to solve and he had that certain sort of charm that put others at ease around him.

And Takuya? He wasn't sure. He was two years younger than the two, accepted to the Academy straight from high school. The other two had taken him soon under their wings and he had learned a lot from them.

_I'm the backup._ Takuya had often told them. After all, there was no way he would ever reach their level.

"Tough now it is no use..."

* * *

Nineteen year old Miyoshi Takuya, a high school graduate from Teitan High, looked around in the room full of other accepted would-be police officers. He felt so young and inexperienced next to them. He doubted he would ever get actually employed if he managed to go through the whole education in this police academy.

"I'm the middle classer... Not good nor bad... As always..." He muttered to himself. The person sitting next to him chortled.

"Kid, if you keep thinking that, you will get nowhere in the life." The person said. Takuya looked up to see a man with sturdy built, a slightly dishelved look and a tooth pick firmly between his teeth. He had a friendly grin and humorous glint in his eyes.

"Date-san, stop picking on him. It's not nice." Someone out of Takuya's range of sight told the man, hitting him on the arm in process. Takuya leaned a bit forward to get a good look on the other person there. That man was almost a complete opposite to that 'Date'-person. He had a clean and classy look that would have made many women swoon. His hair was also dyed and his skin was tan of color. While Date wad now leaning forward too with his elbows on his knees, this man leaned back on his seat, his right elbow on the back of the seat and his head casually propped against his hand.

The left hand that had been used to hit Date, returned on its place on the man's lap and Takuya finally made an eye contact with him.

"My name is Furuya Rei and this is Date Wataru. Nice to meet you."

"Mi-Miyoshi Takuya. Nice to meet you too."

Those words and a hasty handshake began it all.

* * *

"Congratulations, Takuya! You asked her out!" Date, now known as Wataru to the two, slapped the brunet man on the back jovially. "Someone has finally grown into a man."

"W-Wataru!" Takuya stuttered. "I did not ask her out. I was set up."

"Whatever you say, Takuya, you are still going on a date with her." Rei grinned from the other side of Wataru as they sat down on their regular place by the counter of the bar. The place was their favourite, they'd come here ever since they began at the Academy.

Takuya sighed. "Yeah… I am going on a date with the prettiest girl in the academy… who knows exactly why I'm doing it. Because _you_ dared me to!" He glared at Wataru and Rei who both just grinned. The bartender came to the trio.

"The usual?" The old man asked pleasantly.

"Yes, please." Rei smiled back politely. Three glasses of Scotch were placed in front of them. "Anyways, Takuya… Think it as a casual meeting then. After all neither of you have any romantic interest in each other. The truth is, she is naively innocent when it comes to these matters."

"What's more… You get some coworkers of yours really jealous." Wataru added.

"Yeah… I bet I'll be dead by the end of the week." The head met the counter. "At least Satou-chan is nice…"

* * *

"Takuya-nii!" A girl's voice greeted the three men as they walked along the halls of the academy. Takuya turned around to see his ten-year-old cousin Mai running to him.

"Mai-chan? What are you doing here?"

"I came to bring you some lunch! I made it myself!" The girl grinned behind her big glasses and held up the bento box wrapped inside a scarf. Takuya accepted it.

"How about your lunch? A-And won't you be late from school?"

"I bought my own. But don't tell okaa-san, please! She'll get mad." The little girl pleaded.

"Alright, I won't. But you go to school now before you are late."

"Hai! Have a good day, Takuya-nii!" And Mai ran away while waving to the young man.

"Your sister?" Wataru asked.

"No, my cousin." Takuya sighed. "She shouldn't have come here."

"How so?" Rei arched his eyebrows as the trio began walking towards their first class of the day.

"Her parents didn't really approve my decision to become a police officer… They have put huge pressures on Mai-chan too."

"Ah, Miyoshi Corporation, right? I didn't connect you to them."

"Well, oyaji does work for them since ojii-san is still the director… But oji-san is the heir at the moment though he is younger then oyaji… And oba-san is just as bad…"

"Sucks to be you then, Takuya." Wataru mused aloud.

"No, it sucks to be Mai-chan… My parents were relatively fine with my decision…"

* * *

It was their first almost-proper case. Well, a practice really. Takuya, Rei and Wataru were a team. The 'suspects' were gathered in the room.

"And thus the evidence is pointing to you, Sakano-san." Rei announced.

"Khh… You won't get me…" The accused man gritted through his teeth and took a paper knife from the desk nearby. He charged at Takuya who couldn't do anything as he was holding all the evidence bags.

"Takuya!" Rei shouted. The brunet instinctively closed his eyes.

Nothing happened. The culprit was stopped and on the ground. Wataru was holding him down.

"You okay, kid?"

"Y-Yeah…" Takuya nodded shakily. He was disappointed in himself. He had done nothing to help. He couldn't solve a case like Rei, he couldn't take down criminals like Wataru.

"Good that you didn't drop the evidence, otherwise trying this guy would be a pain in the ass." Wataru grinned.

"I guess…"

When Wataru handcuffed the culprit, Rei couldn't help but notice the distressed expression that Takuya was wearing. The tanned man walked to his friend and whispered something to him. Wataru glanced at Takuya too and nodded.

"C'mon, kid, we're going for drinks today!"

Takuya looked up in confusion. Wataru was just grinning to him.

"Yeah, you look like you need one." Rei added.

"For a solved case!" Three glasses of Scotch clinked together. Takuya noted that this time their order of sitting had changed. He was sitting in the middle while usually it was Wataru. But he didn't care. He was with his friends now.

"Great job us, we got the guy, though it was a fake case all along and we got him on the floor." Wataru grinned. The person who had pretended to be the culprit, was one of the senior students who had been picking on them all the time when they'd been in the academy.

"Yeah…" Takuya gave a faint smile.

"Cheer up, Takuya, you did great too." Rei told the brunet. "We all don't need to be in the limelight. Some people are needed on the background too."

"I'm the backup then."

"The damn good backup, kid. The best the academy can offer." Wataru clarified, making all of them laugh.

* * *

They graduated. Drinks were on the bar, Blue Parrot. After all they'd been regulars for years now.

"Congratulations, boys. You are now real police officers." The owner of the bar was this time behind the counter. Kounosuke Jii was his name. He put the three glasses of Scotch in front of the three men. Takuya wondered briefly why they always had the same drinks year after year. Each of them had reasons though.

Wataru simply liked Scotch.

Rei said that he rather not talk about it but for the other two it was clear it had something to do with the future of his career. The dyed blonde man had had his eyes on something for a long time actually and Takuya and Wataru both felt that something would take their friends away from them.

And Takuya? He simply drank it because the others did. Actually it was the first alcohol drink he had ever drunk and for him it was a kind of a sign of friendship.

"For the future!" Takuya raised his glass.

"For the family!" Wataru joined in.

"For the friends!" Rei's glass found its way next to the other two.

"For the safety and security of our Japan!" The chanted together and clinked the glasses together. Grins were etched on their faces.

* * *

Rei disappeared. Takuya got separated from Wataru and for the first time didn't know what to do. When graduating, Rei had gotten the top scores, Wataru and Takuya right behind him. The brunette had also gathered more muscle so he could now take down criminals on his own too. But for some reason… he felt kind of lonely without those two friends of his.

It was after three years, when Takuya was twenty-five, that he met Wataru again. With another Wataru.

* * *

Takuya had managed to get a transfer from Haido to Beika, leaving one of his friends there behind. Actually that guy had been the only proper friend Takuya had made there and the only person really who he'd miss. But now he was back to Beika, where Wataru was.

"Eh…?" Takuya froze for a moment when he saw a familiar back walking ahead of him on the corridor. "Wa-Wataru!"

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. The man and the man next to him turned around.

"Kid!" None other than Date Wataru called back, a wide smile on his face and a tooth pick firmly between his teeth. He hadn't changed at all. "Long time no see!"

"I can't believe it's really you…" Takuya jogged to the duo. "Three years… Two years since academy…"

"You better, kid." Wataru patted the brunet on the back roughly, in his own familiar way. "Oh, this is Takagi Wataru by the way… I was assigned to look after him."

"D-Date-san!" The other Wataru stuttered. Takuya smiled. He remembered being just like that.

"Nice to meet you Takagi-kun, fresh out of Academy, eh?" Takuya smiled.

"Yes. I graduated a while back…" Takagi scratched the back of his head.

"Congratulations are in order then."

"Heh, it seems your absence from Beika has made you grown more spine, kid." Another slap on the back. Takuya glared up at the older man(only two years!).

"Wataru…"

"You gotta call me Date now. Since we have another Wataru here too." Wataru – no, Date – grinned.

"I guess… Date-keiji." Takuya shrugged. "It was nice seeing you. Good day, Takagi-kun."

"The same, Miyoshi-keiji." Date slapped him on the back once more. Old habits died hard… "We should catch up someday."

"Definitely." The young man grinned back.

* * *

"The regular?" Jii asked.

"… Sure." Takuya nodded. The seat next to him was empty. Date hadn't arrived yet.

"Where's your friends?" The glass of Scotch was place on the counter once again.

"Wataru is coming. Rei… isn't." Takuya sighed. What he didn't know was that it would become regular for him to sit alone in that bar.

"Another glass of Scotch, Jii-san." A hand descended on Takuya's shoulder and Date sat down next to him.

"Any word from Rei?"

"Nothing…"

"Right…" Date took his glass and watched into the liquid inside it. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much. Are you still together with Natalie-chan?"

"Sure thing. No one else could make me this happy."

Takuya smiled at the man's happy expression.

"That's great to hear."

"You should get a girlfriend, kid. Liven up a bit."

"Nah… I'm fine like this…" Takuya took his glass and raised it. "For the future."

"For the friends and family." Date agreed.

It was just like before.

"For the safety and security of our Japan."

_Clink_

But something was missing…

* * *

Takuya was coming from the archives after taking some cold case files there when he heard the 'Wataru brother's' talking.

"Man, Date-san, you're really the strongest!" Takagi praised his senior. "Instantly taking down that giant of a suspect! I heard that you were the top student at the police academy, too!"

"No way! That's bogus intel… I was always number two…" Date retorted. "Neither my brins nor my brawn were match for that guy…"

"That guy?"

"He was a gentleman like you… Wonder where he is and what he's doing now… He might even have overestimate his abilities, done something stupid and gotten himself killed by now…"

"Re-… You aren't talking about Rei, are you?" Takuya joined in, catching up to the two men. "He could definitely do that… But he's our Zero-kun, right? I'm sure he's fine."

"True. Our Zero…" Date grinned. "But you two need to be careful too…" He patted the backs of the two younger officers. "You might be police detectives but you still have only one life… Don't lose sight of that, alright?"

"Don't worry, Date-san." Takagi smiled.

"Yeah, we'll be fine."

* * *

It was sometime in the February. Takuya could still remember the day like yesterday. A few days earlier he and Wataru had written an e-mail message to Rei but hadn't gotten a reply yet.

"_Where are you and  
what're you up to?  
Drop us a line  
once in a while,  
alright!  
-Date and Miyoshi"_

Takuya took a look on his phone and sighed then. Still no reply.

"Zero-kun…" It was a simple nickname they had given to the blonde dyed man already back in the Academy. Back then they'd thought nothing special about it but slowly Takuya had formed another idea he had gotten while remembering Rei's reactions to it. It had been surprisement and shock turning into embarrassment and nervousness. Something they rarely had seen on the man's behavior.

"_Zero… Public Security Bureau… Also known as the Secret Police…"_ Takuya began dialing Wataru's number. He should tell him about this theory of his and hear what he thought of it. Besides his stakeout with Takagi should've ended by now…

It took a while until the call connected.

"Wataru, I need to talk with you. It's about Rei…"

"_Ah, Miyoshi-san…"_ The person answering the phone was a Wataru alright… Just the wrong one.

"Takagi-kun, what are you doing with Wataru's phone?" Takuya leaned back in his seat and drummed the fingers of his free hand on the surface of his desk.

"_Miyoshi-san… The thing is…"_ The next words were lost to the brunet. As soon as Takagi got his message out, cold tread filled Takuya's veins.

Wataru was dead.

It was impossible. Wataru was strong. Nothing could kill him. He was undefeatable. Right?

Just like Rei wouldn't get in trouble, Wataru wouldn't die.

"_Miyoshi-san? Are you still there?"_

"Yeah… Where was he taken?"

* * *

Takuya had met Natalie once before and he had to admit that Wataru was – had been – one lucky guy indeed to have her. He was constantly spending nights at her place and talking about her. Last New Year's they plus Takagi had gone to draw fortunes and he had wanted to know if this year would be a good year to propose the young English teacher.

He had never thought the next time they'd meet would be in the circumstances like this. Takuya found the woman relatively quickly, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Natalie-chan…" Takuya reached for her.

"Miyoshi-kun…" The woman broke down and began crying against his shoulder. "I can't believe it… Wataru-kun… Wataru-kun is…"

"I can't believe it either…" Takuya sighed. "I just heard about this all."

Eventually Natalie calmed down and Takuya offered to take her home. She accepted but refused his offer to keep her company overnight.

"Alright… If you need anything, you know you can call me right?"

"Yes. Thank you, Miyoshi-kun… Oyasumi nasai."

"Oyasumi nasai." They wished each other even though they both knew the night would be anything but.

* * *

Takuya had his lonely glass of Scotch in front of him. Jii was sitting next to him this time. The bar was empty.

"So… You got the Legendary Pool Cue back." Takuya stated while looking at the diamond decorated pool cue on the wall.

"Yes, thanks to Kaito-bocchan's help." The old man agreed with a nod. "But that's not why you came here, right?"

"No… Wataru's dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I always enjoyed listening to his tales about his cases… He used to come here even when you and Furuya-kun weren't around."

"… I can imagine that."

"Here." Jii slid a photograph along the counter. "I took it on the day you three were here celebrating your graduation. The last time when all three of you were here together."

Takuya took the photo and examined it. The three of them were holding up their glasses and trying their best to squeeze into one photo. Takuya was in the middle while Rei was on his left side(in the photo) and Wataru on his right side. They all were smiling widely, full of hope and excitement.

"I always like the way you toasted here…" Jii continued. "For the future. For the family. For the friends… For the safety and security of your Japan… It always had something in it."

"Yeah… It took a week for us to come up with that one…" Takuya chuckled absentmindedly, laying the photograph back on the counter and taking a long sip from his drink. "But now I'm the Last Musketeer, the last man standing…"

* * *

"The last man standing…" Takuya took out his wallet and dug up the photograph from there. He laid it next to his now-empty glass of Scotch and sighed. It was over a year now. Over a year since he became the Last Musketeer.

"Here you are. This is on the house." The bartender, some new girl, gave him another glass of his chosen drink. She was nice, able to sense the mood quite well and give the customers what they needed.

"Thank you Fukui-san."

"You are welcome." The woman smiled.

"You know… This place is much nicer looking when the lights are dim and not bright."

"I know. But nowadays we keep this place better lit." Fukui Yuzuki smiled before going to serve another customer. This gave Takuya an opportunity to fall into his own thoughts. During the years he had found his own strengths but in the meantime he knew he could never reach the level of his two friends. His forte was memory, just like with Mai-chan, and thinking ahead of others. He might not be able to make complicated deductions but simple psychology allowed him to do a lot. This had made him the best chess, shôgi and mahjong player in the department.

"My… You look like you could do with some company." A voice stated behind Takuya. The brunet's hand clenched around the glass tightly. It was that guy… Like ghost from the past. Amuro Tooru who he'd met at Restaurante Sundayrino when the man's client had blown herself up in her own car.

"Hello, Amuro-san." Takuya greeted politely, not bothering to turn around. He slid the photo underneath his wallet.

"Isn't it a bit unusual for one to go on drinks alone?" Uninvited, the tanned man sat on the seat next to Takuya.

"_That's Rei's seat…"_ The brunet thought bitterly and said aloud simply: "I'm not alone. I'm waiting."

"For who?"

"My friends… I think they'll be here soon. We always meet here."

"Really?" Amuro was clearly interested and maybe a bit hurt even.

"Yes." Takuya took sip from his drink. "We always used to meet here. For years… And one day… Any day… everything can change."

"Do tell me…" The other man's voice turned into something barely a whisper.

"I was simply left behind. One disappeared and the other one died." Takuya got up and left a note on the counter. "I'm waiting for them to find me again since I'm the Last Musketeer… But you know nothing about that, do you? Zero-kun?"

The brunet left the bar, his hands deep in his pockets and shoulders slumped. He left the other man going by the name Amuro Tooru sitting there in a shock.

"Wait! Takuya!" The blonde got up and dashed out of the bar. Only to meet the empty street in the darkening night and the young police detective nowhere in sight. "Takuya..."

"_I'm sorry my friend… I never intended to do this to you… But you can understand me, can't you? We three wowed every time we came here… For the future, for the family, for the friends… For the safety and security of our Japan."_

Amuro clenched his hands into fists and relaxed them. He headed home too.

"_I'm sorry, Date. I'm sorry, Takuya. I betrayed you both."_

* * *

**A/N: And here this was. Please tell me what you think. Was Amuro in character? Was Date portrayed properly? I had some troubles in deciding whether to call him Date or Wataru. So I decided to use both, depending on the situation Takuya was in.**

**And of course what do you think of Takuya? I'm curious about that one too. Is it okay for him to suspect that Tooru/Rei is in the Secret Police or do you think it's too much? At the moment I'm thinking that Takuya knows that Tooru is Rei but is annoyed how he was left behind. Or something... I might write another one where I'll explore the time when Takuya found out. All in all that scene takes place sometime after the Overnight Deadline but before the Shrine to remember.**

**Oh, and was there too much about drinking? The focus is in it though, as Takuya remembers the times he spent in that bar(plus some more too)...**

**Tomorrow I shall begin writing the next chapter of Dream or Not.**


End file.
